Thursday, November 29, 2012

Judges call for nationwide strike against Morsi's power-grab

Supreme Judicial Council has urged President Morsi to retract decree they see as an "unprecedented attack" on judiciary.

25 Nov 2012

Egypt's judges have called for a nationwide strike in protest against
a decree by President Mohamed Morsi granting himself extensive new
powers.

After an emergency meeting on Saturday, the Supreme
Judicial Council, Egypt's highest judicial authority, urged Morsi to
retract the decree they see as an "unprecedented attack" on the
judiciary.

Under the declaration, Morsi's decisions are final and
cannot be challenged or appealed. His opponents have accused him of
using the kind of authoritarian tactics favoured by Hosni Mubarak, the
deposed Egyptian president.

It has also led to angry protests in the capital and other cities.

SWEEPING POWERS

Morsi
has also given himself sweeping powers that allowed him to sack the
unpopular prosecutor-general and opened the door for a retrial for
Mubarak, and his aides.

At a Judges' Club news conference on Saturday, Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud,
the former prosecutor general, said that he was willing to go to court
to dispute Morsi's decision and warned "against any attempt to disrupt
the work of the judicial system."

The influential group of justices also called for a "suspension of
work all in courts and prosecution administrations," in protest against
the decree.

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting
from Cairo, said the Judges' Club objects to Morsi's decree, which they
say gives him more power than any president in the history of modern
Egypt has enjoyed.

"However, the judges say ... what is the guarantee that it is for a
temporary amount of time. They say you cannot have a president who is
accountable to no one," our correspondent said.

In the government's favour, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has called for a mass protest on Tuesday in support of Morsi.

Morsi's announcement last Thursday sparked large protests across Egypt on Friday.

Minor clashes broke out on Saturday when demonstrators on Mohamed
Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square threw rocks at security forces, who
fired back with tear gas.

"I don't like, want or need to resort to exceptional measures. But I
will if I see that my people, nation and the revolution of Egypt are in
danger," Morsi told hundreds of his supporters who rallied outside the
presidential palace in Cairo on Friday.

"I don't want to have all the powers. But if I see my nation in danger, I will do and I will act. I must."

ONE HUNDRED WOUNDED

Buoyed by accolades recently for mediating a truce between Hamas and
Israel, Morsi ordered on Thursday that an assembly dominated by the
Muslim Brotherhood writing the new constitution could not be dissolved
by legal challenges.

Liberal and secular members earlier walked out of the body, charging it would impose strict Islamic practices.

His announcement led to clashes in several cities between supporters
and opponents of Egypt's president, a clear show of the deepening
polarisation plaguing the country.

In the largest rally on Friday, thousands of chanting protesters
packed Cairo's Tahrir Square, the heart of the 2011 revolution,
demanding Morsi quit and accusing him of launching a "coup".

Thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square after opposition
leaders called for a "million-man march" to protest against what they
say is a coup by Morsi.

On Friday, protesters were calling for the fall of Morsi's government and the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Among the protesters was Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

On Thursday, ElBaradei - who also participated in the 2011 protests
- tweeted that Morsi had "appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh."

In Alexandria, Port Said and Suez, protests turned violent and at
least 100 people were wounded in clashes between Morsi's supporters and
opponents.

The headquarters of Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party headquarters in
Alexandria was set on fire by protesters on Friday afternoon, with the
party's offices have been attacked in five cities in total.